Day Three

I was awakened on day three by Frosty and Dona touching my foot through my sleeping bag. Like I said, I crashed hard the night before, and except for getting up to make a trip to the port-a-pottie at two in the morning, I don't think I moved all night. I asked them later if I was snoring, and they said no, in fact, they weren't even sure I was in the tent because all they saw was my sleeping bag and they didn't hear a sound. That's why they reached in and touched my foot, they were feeling my sleeping bag to see if I was there.

We got up and went to breakfast. When I sat down to eat I saw that Frosty was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she told me her feet hurt so bad she didn't think she was going to be able to walk. I knew just how devastated she was feeling, and I tried to give her the same pep talk she had given me just the night before, but it didn't make her feel better. Like me, she had determined to walk every mile. Frosty is a breast cancer survivor, for five years now, and 8 months ago she lost her best friend, who had been diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer just the year before. She was walking for both of them. After breakfast Frosty went to her tent, wrapped up her feet, and decided she was going to walk. Dona, with blisters and pain of her own did the same.

We packed our bags, took down our tents, and lugged our gear over to the trucks before walking for the day.



On this last day of the walk, I had decided that I was going to walk as much as I could, ride the vans if I needed, but either way I was going to enjoy myself and soak up as much of this experience as I could.

When we walked down our first hill of the day my knee didn't hurt at all. I was so excited. Maybe I was actually going to be able to walk this day through to the finish line!

The scenery on day three was, by far, the best of the three days, at least for me. The mood at the start of the walk was light and I think everyone else was soaking up as much of the joy as they could too, even though many were really hurting.

Team Race for the Rack with the Seattle skyline as a backdrop

I walked the entire 15 miles of the last day with only my normal walking pains that I had grown accustomed to on my training walks. Along the way I thanked God for healing my bad attitude of the day before and for healing my knee so I could walk into closing ceremonies.

At our last pit stop, with only 3 miles left to go to the finish line, I called my husband.

"I'm three miles away! Where are you?"

"You're three miles away!? Oh my gosh!"

"Oh no, don't tell me you haven't even left home yet."

"I was gonna stop and get you flowers. I guess I can't do that now."

"Forget the flowers. Just come."

I wasn't even annoyed. I knew he'd make it in time to see closing ceremonies.

The Last stretch of our journey walking up First Avenue

Passing by Pike's Place Market

When we neared the finish line there was a huge crowd to greet us, high five-ing us along the way, congratulating us on our accomplishment, thanking us for walking. We walked through love and cheers and into a holding area, where we would wait for the very last walker so we could all walk into Memorial Stadium together for closing ceremonies.

The holding area was so cool. The other walkers who had made it there before us were there to welcome us with a deafening cheer as we walked in, and when I picked up my shirt, and joined everyone else in welcoming walkers, I thought this must be a little bit like what will happen in heaven when one is welcomed there by all the others who have made the journey there before. Instead of white robes, we all had our T-shirts with the "3" on the back, and I'm pretty sure that if there's a holding area in heaven it won't smell like sweat. Still, the thought filled me up to overflowing.

Frosty and Dona, Overjoyed!

When it came time to walk into Memorial Stadium we tried to link up with friends and stay together, so we could walk in with those we had come to know best. What a wonderful ending to not just a weekend, but a season of my life. I have grown so much from this, I can't even tell you, and I don't believe I'm saying this, but I'm keeping an open mind about doing it all over again next year.

A Clip of Closing Ceremonies

Over 2,500 Seattle walkers and 340 crew members raised 6.4 million dollars to help make breast cancer history. That number will go up as donations and corporate matching gifts continue to be processed.